Russian Gems: Piano Rarities - Sandro Russo, piano

Julius Isserlis

Julius Isserlis who was a Russian Jew, was one of 12 musicians allowed to leave Russia in the 1920s to promote Russian culture, but he never returned. His grandson is Steven Isserlis, the renowned British cellist.

http://en.wikipedia.org

Nikolai Medtner

Nikolai Karlovich Medtner was a Russian composer and pianist. A younger contemporary of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, he wrote a substantial number of compositions, all of which include the piano.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Medtner

Sergei Taneyev

Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author.Along with beauty and expressiveness, Taneyev’s music could also show a whimsical streak. Gerald Abraham writes, “Taneyev had a dual nature rather like Lewis Carroll’s, half mathematician, half humorist.” Among Taneyev’s unpublished works are reportedly various parodies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Taneyev

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff

Mili Balakiriv

Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (1837-1910) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer known today primarily for his work promoting musical nationalism and his encouragement of more famous Russian composers, notably Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mily_Balakirev” target=”_blank”>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mily_Balakirev

Nikolai Rakov

Nikolai Petrovich Rakov (1908-1990) was a Soviet composer. Rakov was a staunchly conservative composer who exercised a solid grasp of orchestration and melody; many of his works ventured only a little beyond the style of Alexander Glazunov and Reinhold Glière, though his expressive range is far greater than the latter. Unabashed tonality, late Romantic harmonies, and flowing tunes were the hallmarks of his work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rakov

Ludomir Różycki

Ludomir Różycki (1883-1953) was a Polish composer and conductor. He was, with Mieczysław Karłowicz, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg, a member of the group of composers known as Young Poland, the intention of which was to invigorate the musical culture of their generation in their mother country.

He was a son of a professor at the Warsaw Conservatory, where he studied piano and composition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludomir_R%C3%B3%C5%BCycki

Sandro Russo

Acclaimed for his profound sense of poetry and distinctive style, Sandro Russo has been in demand as a soloist in many venues around the world. He unanimously receives accolades for his sparkling virtuosity and his playing has often been referred to as a throwback to the grand tradition of elegant pianism and beautiful sound.

http://www.sandrorussopianist.com/biography/